TOWARDS A MODEL FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF CULTURAL VALUES IN HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS: DISCOURSES OF FOOD AND HEALTH IN THE APPALACHIANS

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Cecily Rouse Timmons (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: "Health outcomes from food-related issues are particularly poor in Appalachian regions; obesity , malnutrition , type 2 diabetes , stroke , and heart disease are prevalent. Recognizing that ""old"" and ""new"" Appalachian culture are perhaps not the same , there still appears to be a disconnect between those whose goal is to increase the health of Southern Appalachian citizens--medical professionals , nonprofit clinicians , and rural health and advocacy groups--and those citizens themselves. In an era where culturally-sensitive persuasion is largely accepted as effective , health communications have seemingly not caught up. While health is certainly not cut-and-dry and involves complex mitigating and influential factors and circumstances , one consideration is that information is not ""getting through"" to the audience in a meaningful , persuasive , or actionable way. Food , cooking , and meal-making and sharing are inexorably tied to cultural values. In order to determine whether values embedded in a given nutrition-oriented health communications align with the cultural values of food and health held by the targeted audience , research must first consider how to identify values in nutrition communications targeted to a specific audience. Building on research confirming the success of culturally-sensitive approaches to health communications , this study lays the groundwork for a model of cultural value identification in targeted nutrition communications using theory and data from peer-reviewed literature that addresses cultural values within discourses of health , food , or nutrition within cultures or defined communities similar to those of Appalachia. Having this model--an accurate and applicable method of discourse analysis--will enable practitioners to both identify values within current micro and macro-level discourses and effectively tailor future communications targeted toward Appalachian people and other regionally and culturally-specific populations. This study uses meta-synthesis as an approach to explore data , theories and methods of measurement relevant to values , cultural identity , food culture , and health communications in Appalachian-like communities. The apparent cross-connection between fields (public health , health communications , public policy , and advertising for example) , theoretical models , and research data produced from the 17 studies included in the synthesis indicates the need for further exploratory research linking the theories of Schwartz , Hofstede , and Inglehart (or other emergent models of cultural values) with current communications theory and practice , and validates the valuableness of this work. Many values evident in the studies on Appalachian health aligned with those proposed in Schwartz , Hofstede , and Inglehart , therefore any of these models could be potentially useful , providing a theoretical structure and/ or schema to assessments of discourses of nutrition targeted to specific populations or cultures such as those of Appalachia."

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Language: English

Date: 2017

Keywords

cultural values

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